14 survey respondents
Location: 2351 N Forest Rd Ste 106, Getzville, 14068 NY
EIN: 16-6350753
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8 hours
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95%
5%
2017 Deadlines:
Types of Grants Awarded:
Geographic Focus:
For Fiscal Year
Total Assets:
Total Grants:
Change in Assets FY :
Amount of Grants to Minnesota Nonprofits:
Largest Grant:
Smallest Grant:
Average Grant:
Reviewer 6863 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2020
The Towers Foundation was our first foundation grant in our nonprofit journey. They truly want to help you succeed in your mission. We have received grants and been denied. We love the guidance they offer before, during, and after.
And especially loved how they stepped up during Covid to help us help our specific community of families who we believe were hit the hardest.
The Towers Foundation feels like family! We definitely encourage applying!
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
New York
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2020
Good
Good
Gives Nonprofits like ours a foundation to build on and succeed in our mission!
8
Grant Applicant - applied in 2020
The Tower Foundation is professional, transparent and caring in its process to apply and in its engagement with grantees. They ask great questions and really want to get to know you and your impact. They will tell you honestly where they seem alignment or if they don't to their philanthropy mission and if funded, they are a true partner in your work and impact.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2020
Good
They answer the phone and emails, having real genuine dialogue.
Visit more often! I'm somewhat kidding, because you grant in different places, but you are welcome in Essex County.
The Foundation staff have clear goals in what they are trying to see for change, and they are transparent and upfront about it. So it makes it easy for nonprofits to see if they align. They are engaged to ensure their goals are met at the same time you, as a grantee, has what is needed to succeed.
They act as a partner. They stay connected (not in a micro-manage way) to let you know they are there to support where they can.
5 to 10 hours
Grant Applicant - applied in 2019
The Foundation works collaboratively to ensure a clear understanding of your proposed grant and is responsive and supportive. Oriented to making the process smooth and streamlined. A great experience!
Positive leader in the field, Culturally sensitive, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Responsive
New York
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2019
Good
Good
0
We're glad you felt supported throughout the application, and that it was a smooth process for you. Thanks for taking the time to write a review! We appreciate it very much.
Reviewer 8580 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018
All the PM's at Tower are there to support you even at the LOI phase. Once you get past the LOI your assigned PM becomes part of your team and is an invested as you are in your success. Even if you don't get the grant (our LOI was rejected 3 times), they always give you the time you need to understand why and encouragement to try again. We did and on the 4th try we got the grant.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2018
Good
Average
I don't know what its goals are and have not studied its portfolio of grants but given how they treated us, I suspect they do.
Keep it up! Just fix your online portal so that documents uploaded can be removed by the grantee without having to call the office.
Take time to really work your LOI and include the PM's at Tower. They will even read your LOI before you submit. Once you are past the LOI, the PM is as invested as you to make you successful so your odds at getting the grant increase significantly. At this point you are competing against yourself.
Advocates for its grantees and communicates and collaborates better than any other foundation I have worked with.
20
Thanks for the thoughtful review, and we're glad you hung in there! You're not the first to identify problems with removing uploaded documents from the grants portal.
We're working on figuring out how to configure the settings so that applicants/grantees can remove documents without wiping out the attachments we'd like to retain (e.g., past financial statements; the history can be useful to us!).
Reviewer 1974 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018
This is an exceptional foundation that is not adversarial and will work patiently with you to achieve success.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2018
Good
Good
Works closely with potential grantees.
15
Thank you for the kind review! We're glad you had a positive experience working with us!
Reviewer 1549 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016
The Tower Foundation is the only organization in the space that allows Executive Directors with learning disabilities to submit year-end-reports verbally (verses written). They are leading the way in practicing what they preach: They make accommodations to empower LD social entrepreneurs to successfully operate organizations that empower youth with LD. Tower is the gold standard.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2016
Good
Top of the top
Good
Tower is a true partner. They fund programs of course... But most importantly, they are as committed to success as the organizations they support.
15
You're too kind! (But we appreciate the compliments!) It took us a while to get there, but we realized that funding LD without making appropriate accommodations for people with LD was terribly hypocritical. Please let us know if you think of other ways we can streamline/improve our application and/or reporting processes!
Reviewer 3717 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016
The Tower Foundation is highly committed to working with applicants and helping guide them through the application process. They seem genuinely interested in seeing the impact of projects they fund on the community and develop wonderful personalized relationships with grantees.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
New York
Current or former grantee
Funded for greater amount
2016
Good
Good
Working with the Tower Foundation has been a wonderful experience. We are very grateful for their support.
The funder guides the applicant through the process. There is always someone available at the foundation to provide feedback or answer questions. We never felt as though the application process or expectations were a mystery.
0
Thanks for the kind words! It's very important to us to develop strong and trusting relationships with our grant partners and to help them do the work that advances both of our goals! We do care deeply about the impact the projects we fund are having, we're working on how to measure our grants' contribution to the overall community's well-being. Stay tuned!
Reviewer 3883 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016
Call and talk with them, they're extremely helpful in terms of listening to why you think you may be a fit, and providing guidance. They are unlike other funders in that they are true partners in both the application process and the reporting process. For our most recent report, we were allowed to do it through a conference call rather than a written report. This allowed us to have a program person, the CFO and the CDO on the call, resulting in a much richer discussion about grant implementation, including challenges. I never hesitate to call them with questions because I feel like they're part of our team.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2016
Call and talk with them before applying. They will be very honest about your chances of success, which is important to know before preparing an application to them or any other funder.
I haven't reviewed their grant portfolio, so it's not possible for me to answer this question. However, my experience working with them generally is that they are strategic, efficient and flexible, so I imagine they are successfully accomplishing their goals, and they'd be the first to discover / acknowledge it if they weren't.
Exceptional
Listen.
15
Wow! Part of the team? We're blushing over here. :) Thank you so much for the high praise!
Reviewer 5850 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2018
The Tower Foundation Program Officers are very accessible and welcome opportunities to explore concepts and ideas in advance of submitting an application. I encourage potential applicants to take advantage of these opportunities to help with alignment of the proposal and grant guidelines.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Massachusetts
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2018
Good
The Tower Foundation Program Officers are highly accessible via telephone, email as well as in person opportunities they create within their funding area.
Good
This foundation is highly focused on accomplishing its funding goals and works closely with its grantees in support of these goals.
Best advice - continue what you are doing in support of healthy youth and healthy communities and keep your open door policy with your grantees! The partnership is powerful and effective.
The Tower Foundation builds strong partnerships and provides excellent guidance and support to their grantees.
0
Thank you for your review! We love talking over project ideas with people in advance of our submission deadlines. We can't always tell you what will make the cut (too many variables, such as the number of other grant request and their proposed projects, how many requests we get for each category, how much money we have available from year-to-year), but we can usually tell you when something's a non-starter. That can save everyone a bunch of time and frustration!
Reviewer 2986 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2016
The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation's Program Officers are among the most helpful and responsive professionals I have ever encountered. They also offer some amazing opportunities to meet with an officer of the foundation at coffee shops around the region. I received tremendous advice and direction during one of these meetings.
Positive leader in the field, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
New York
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2016
Good
Good
I believe this foundation offers tremendous guidance regarding what meets their criteria and mission. I love that they are accessible and willing to interact with nonprofits in the community.
7
Thank you for the kind review! We truly enjoy going out into the community and sharing conversation (and coffee -- except for Chuck; he's not a coffee drinker) with anyone who'd like to chat with us!
